We are just starting day two of a conference here at Buffalo on climate change in the artic. We have participants from many fields (coming in person and electronically). This conference is also our first try at broadcasting our conferences via webinar. This enables folks to participate from all over the globe (not just by passively listening but also offering real-time questions and comments). It also seems a great way to do CLE.

I am including the information on the conference below in case any of you have some free time today and want to join the webinar. Also, the papers steming from the conference will be available in a SUNY Press book on the issue coming out next year.

Conference Summary:

The Big Thaw: Policy, Governance and Climate Change in the
Circumpolar North will bring together experts in science, law,
sociology, and other fields to explore the pressing issue of climate
change in the arctic. Conference participants will deliberate on
international, national, and local perceptions of environmental,
cultural, social and economic change in the arctic, interweaving the
contexts of policy, legal, local and scientific models. Through its core
focus on time, space, change and movement, this conference seeks common
measures to the time scales of lived human experience in the arctic and
sub-arctic region in a warming world.

The circumpolar North is a critical observatory for changing relations
between human societies and the environment, and the policies that
should accompany such change. The arctic and the sub-arctic are at the
center of global debates on post- Cold War partnerships and issues of
post-colonial governance, strategy and regional sovereignty. For
political and other reasons, the circumpolar North has only recently
reemerged as a "region," revealing past connections and current common
problems, and pointing to future challenges. Experts will gather and
share thoughts on how we arrived at the current situation(s), where
exactly things stand, and where to go from here.